Donald Blankenship Case

The Aftermath
Blankenship stated, “violations are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process, there are violations in every coal mine in America, and UBB was a mine that had violations” (Lawrence & Weber (2014). Four main investigations were launched after the disaster at Upper Big Branch. One by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), another by an independent team commissioned by then-West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin and headed by a former MSHA chief, a third by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), which had been selected as the miners’ representation in the aftermath of the tragedy, and a fourth by the West Virginia Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training (Daly (2014). After the four investigations were through it was decided that the cause of the explosion was aided by the poor ventilation system, inadequate rock dusting, inoperable sprinklers, and unmaintained equipment. Massey Energy put production

Although Donald Blankenship claims he is innocent and that the mine disaster just happed to happen, I truly think that Donald Blankenship and the Massey Energy Corporation should be held liable for the twenty-nine lives that were lost on April 5th, 2010. Donald Blankenship and Massey Energy both knew that the equipment they had down in the mines were faulty and had many chances to correct it. Miners themselves complained about their safety and yet nothing was done about it besides shutting the miners up. In my opinion the government should have been more proactive about getting the mine to safe standards but all they kept doing was giving the Upper Big Branch fines and violations when they should have been shut down. The government turned an eye because there was an inside between the managers and the government regulators. Donald Blankenship should be in jail and held accountable for the twenty-nine miners who lost their lives on April 5th,